


the dog days are over

by haleinskibro



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Allison Argent, Alive Allison Argent & Vernon Boyd & Erica Reyes, Alive Erica Reyes, Alive Laura Hale, Alive Vernon Boyd, Alpha Laura Hale, BAMF Original Characters, Background Relationships, Control Issues, Derek Hale is Stiles Stilinski's Anchor, Derek is Not a Failwolf, Derek is a Good Boyfriend, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Laura is an amazing alpha, Like all the other relationships that aren't Stiles and Derek are pretty damn background, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Maybe - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, SPOILER ALERT LMAO, The Alpha Pack, Werecreature Stiles, im so bad at tags wow, like bless her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 06:09:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8316733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haleinskibro/pseuds/haleinskibro
Summary: When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.When life gives you a freshly turned Stiles who can't control his shift, you kind of just give up. Right?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captaintinymite (augopher)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/augopher/gifts).



> hi! for some odd reason, this story kicked my ass and ran away from me badly. i don't have control over what my hands type even though i wish i did but i tried. so hard. i hope it's to your standards. i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed writing it. xx 
> 
> the ages in this are a bit skewed so here they are so no confusion;  
> Stiles: 15 in 2011/20 in 2016  
> Scott: 14 in 2011/19 in 2016  
> Derek: 17 in 2011/22 in 2016  
> Laura: 19 in 2011/24 in 2016  
> everyone else is just mixed in between
> 
> title from the dog days are over by florence and the machines

**. part one .**

 

**Sat. August 27, 2011**

“Stiles, can we slow down, please?” Scott’s breath was getting jagged, each lungful verging on the edge of wheezing which wasn’t a good sign. He brought out his inhaler and took a few quick puffs before trying to speak again, his words not sounding as breathy and light as before. “I don’t even understand what the fuss is about, Stiles. Why are we in the woods?”

Stiles spun around quickly and moved in front of Scott, his hands gripping his shoulders painfully as he shook him. “Because, Scott! On Monday, we’ll no longer be the losers of Beacon Hills Junior High. We’ll officially be high school students. We’ll officially be able to start over, to reinvent ourselves. We can actually be _popular_ , Scotty. Can you imagine?”

Scott looked at Stiles warily. He didn’t want to be popular if he was telling the truth. He was fine with the small social circle he had—a circle that only included Stiles on good days, Stiles and Heather on better ones. But Stiles, he was always worried about his position in the social hierarchy. He thought being popular would solve all of his problems, something Scott was highly doubtful about. He knew it was mainly about Lydia Martin and Stiles’ ridiculous 10 year plan to woo her (step one being her acknowledging the boy even slightly exists) but Scott didn’t think it was worth it. He didn’t think it was worth it back in third grade when he began fantasizing about Lydia and being popular and he didn’t think it was worth it now. But he indulged him anyway, Stiles being his best friend and all.

Rolling his eyes heavenward, Scott sighed heavily before shrugging off Stiles’s hands. “Fine, whatever. Just, let’s hurry up, I’m tired.” Stiles grinned hugely and began to walk again, chattering on about his plan to climb the social ladder (“The lacrosse team, Scott! Basketball and football are so out, you know. Lacrosse is the new it sport and we’re making first line!”) and how he was sure Lydia was going to notice him that year (“We’re in majority of the same classes this year, Scott. She has to notice me, I mean geniuses have to stick together.”) while Scott tried to regulate his breathing to fend off an asthma attack. He was focusing on his breathing so much that he didn’t hear the faint growling coming from the right or notice that Stiles had suddenly stopped, head cocked to the side to listen until he ran directly into the boy.

“Stiles, what the hell? Why’d you stop?”

He put a hand up to silence Scott, his face furrowed in concentration as he tilted his head again. Scott was about to ask Stiles what was going on again when he heard it, the low growling of an animal off to the right of them. His eyes widened as he looked at Stiles in shock.

“What was that?” Scott was slowly moving away from the sound, hoping he’d be able to put enough distance between him and whatever they hell that thing was.

“I don’t know but it didn’t sound happy.” Stiles was following Scott’s lead, slowly shuffling away from the direction of the growling. “And I’d really like to not make it any unhappier so how about we get out of here. _Now._ ”

Scott nodded before turning and running away as fast as he could, Stiles directly on his heels and gaining. Scott pushed himself harder, trying to go faster and put more distance between him and that thing when he heard a loud howl echoing throughout the forest, the hairs on the nape of his neck rising. The sound shocked him so much he ended up tripping over a branch, and tumbling down. He heard Stiles curse loudly in front of him, the sound of him running back muffled over the pounding of his heart in his ears and the loud growl that reverberated in his bones. It was directly above him, whatever it was, and he could feel the heat of its body burning hot over him, the wetness of saliva dripping onto his overheated skin.

Scott lifted his head slowly, turning to see Stiles shell shocked and frozen a few feet in front of him. Turning his head back as slowly as he could, he took in the figure above him. Whatever it was was the thing of nightmares. It was large and bulky, dark skin stretched tightly over its inhuman body. It’s eyes were a bright blue and it had fangs protruding from its closed mouth, saliva slowly drip drip dripping down them.

It brought its clawed hand up to Scott’s face, one of the claws slowly dragging its way down the skin of his cheek, causing it to break open and blood to slowly trickle from the wound. Scott gasped loudly, the air in his lungs forcefully leaving when the monster shifted its weight, pushing one of its hands firmly onto his chest. He couldn’t breathe, his chest unable to expand with the added weight and he started panicking, his heart beating faster and harder than ever before. His throat was tight and his arms surged out in an effort to hit the thing off his chest to no avail. His vision was darkening and he knew he was going to die.

Faint and in the distance, Scott thought he heard Stiles yelling, screaming at the thing to leave him alone. He was sure he heard the sound of rocks hitting skin and low pitched growling before, eventually, the beast took his hand off of his chest and used it to grip his throat tight, effectively crushing his windpipe and cutting off whatever sweet air Scott was trying to drag into his lungs. He was lifted into the air, legs kicking out and hands scratching at the hand that gripped his throat.

His vision was fading, his lids drooping shut when he heard a sound from behind him, a growl that wasn’t coming from the thing trying to kill him. He was whipped around when the thing turned towards the noise, a snarl ripping its way out of its throat and vibrating his whole frame, Scott included. Tightening its grip around his throat one last time, the beast snarled at Scott before tossing him away like a piece of trash, his body colliding with the trunk of a tree harshly. The air left his body as he crumpled to the ground in a heap of broken bones and limp limbs.

“Scott!” He heard Stiles shout rush towards him, slipping and sliding on the forest floor to get closer to his best friend and avoid getting mixed up with the total badass fighting that was happening. “You’re fine, you’ll be okay. Please be okay.”

“How is he?” A second voice started talking, someone Scott didn’t know. He sounded close, directly behind Stiles, someone who would help him hopefully.

“I don’t know, he got thrown into that tree pretty hard. I need him to be okay.” A sob left Stiles’ body and Scott felt horrible because he knew he was the cause of it but there wasn’t anything he could do to help. He was too weak to even breathe at that point in time.

“His heart’s still beating. It’s faint but it’s there. He’ll be fine, we’ll save him. You have my word.”

Stiles was silent, most likely shocked by the other man’s words, at the sure sound in his voice when he said Scott was still alive and would continue to be that way. “Thanks,” Stiles’ voice was small and soft, trembling slightly with what might have been hope. “But, what is that thing? What are you guys?”

Before Stiles could get an answer there was the loud and wet sound of flesh being torn behind them, the sound of a growl dampened and weak by blood pooling in a throat making it more of a gurgle than a threatening noise. Silenced followed briefly before loud and victorious howls echoed through the forest, shaking Scott to his core and making his weak heart beat a little bit faster.

“That,” A third voice began to talk, a female one this time, light and easy and carefree. The voice made Scott feel safe. “Was our uncle, Peter Hale. I’m Laura Hale and that’s my younger brother, Derek. And we’re werewolves.”

Silence followed Laura’s confession and Scott was 100% sure Stiles was staring at them both with his mouth hanging open and eyes wide, a fact he would have confirmed if he was able to move in the slightest. He was shocked as well, shocked that something as imaginary as werewolves existed, surprised that he had been attacked and left on the brink of death by one.

“Well since it seems like you have nothing to say right this moment, how about I save your friend’s life and we can all talk later, yeah?” Scott felt Laura come closer to his body, her warmth caressing his skin. She shifted him into the position she needed, all the while apologising every time Scott whimpered and groaned in pain. “You would normally ask for this yourself, 100% of your own volition but this is the only way I can save you, Scott. I’m sorry I’m taking this away from you, but it’s the only way.”

“Wait!” Stiles shouted and shocked Laura away from Scott. Derek growled low in his throat at Stiles’ loudness. “You’re gonna bite him? He’s gonna be like you two?”

“Yes, Stiles, I’m going to bite him, And it’s going to hurt.” That was all the warning Scott got before he felt the white hot pain of his skin being broken, Laura’s fangs digging deep into his muscle and sinew. He felt his back arch off the ground as he screamed low and long, the sound feeling as if it was physically pulled from his chest. Everything hurt and he felt even closer to death during this than he did when he was just a pile of nothing on the ground.

It didn’t last long much to Scott’s happiness, Laura detaching from his hip quickly and easily. He could feel his blood slowly pouring from his body and soaking into the ground until it wasn’t anymore. He could feel the skin she bit into knitting itself back together seamlessly, could feel his bones shift and mend and become whole once more. His heartbeat got stronger and his throat sucked in air. He felt like himself but ten times better than he was.

Once he established that he was alive and he could breathe, Scott moved to sit up and look around at his surroundings. Stiles was on his left, a look of concern and shock on his face, arms out as if he didn’t know if he was allowed to touch Scott. Beside him were two extremely gorgeous people that had to be Derek and Laura. They looked absolutely identical but you could clearly see the maturity resonating in Laura’s rainbow eyes that Derek hadn’t mastered yet. They both had beautiful olive skin and jet black hair, their eyes a mess of colours that Scott couldn’t even begin to understand and eyebrows that were just plain impressive.

Scott turned back to Laura to see her smiling at him hugely, her bright white teeth on full display. She placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed briefly before she looked him directly in the eyes, hers flashing a bright ruby red at him. He felt his eyes flash as well and instinctively he knew they were a bright golden yellow, shining bright enough to rival the sun any day. Laura smiled again, bigger and brighter than she did before and moved so she could pull him close to her. She hugged him tightly and he hugged back, positioning his head so his nose was jammed into her neck and his exposed just right towards her.

“Welcome to the pack, Scott.” She whispered in his ear before she pulled away and threw her head back in the air, a howl sounding throughout the preserve. Soon Derek followed his sister’s lead and Scott wasn’t far behind, the three of the howling to the moon in unity and unison.

 

**Weds. July 13, 2016**

“Derek! What have I told you? No bleeding on the couch, it takes forever to get the stains out.”

Derek throws him a glare from his slumped position on the couch. His shirt is in tatters, the light grey material stained darker by blood, a small amount of it his while the rest is from whatever poor guy stepped to him today. There are slow healing gashes all across his stomach and chest, blood slowly seeping from the wounds. It looks way worse than it truly is, Stiles knows that, but he still winces in sympathy and flutters around for the first aid kit anyway.

“I’m so happy you care about our well-being more than the precious fabric of your couch. Really, Stiles. I’m honored.” The sarcasm is dripping so thickly from Derek’s words Stiles can’t help but cackle. It’s one of the things Stiles loves most about the man, how he can throw around dry humor and sarcasm without missing a beat, always leaving people shocked and confused.

“Aw, baby, you know I love you like no other. But that couch, it was too expensive to be the showcase for your bloodstains.” Stiles finally finds the kit under the sink in the kitchen and moves back to where Derek is still laid out. His wounds are mostly closed now so all Stiles truly has to focus on is cleaning the dried blood from his skin and poke around some of the still open wounds to make sure nothing is lodged inside to make Derek uncomfortable during the remainder of the healing. “Mind telling me what the fuck happened anyway? I thought you were just going to patrol the border with Boyd and Cora, not get jumped.”

That earned Stiles another glare quickly followed by a hiss thanks to Stiles dousing the larger gash on his obliques with alcohol.

“That was the plan,” Derek starts, his words coming out hissed from behind his clenched teeth. “But when we started to circle back towards the northern edge of the border Cora smelled something that wasn’t there when we first started patrol so Boyd and I let her lead us to whatever it was she was smelling because we weren’t.” Stiles grabs the scissors and cuts away the rest of Derek’s shirt to reach more of his skin. Derek lifts his shoulders off the back of the couch and shrugs off the remainder of his shirt as Stiles wipes away at his chest and shoulders and motioned for him to continue talking.

“Cora ended up leading us towards the southern edge of the border and the preserve, close to where the lake is surrounding Hyden Park. There were these caves surrounding the lake and they all looked abandoned but we decided to take a look around because we’d never seen them before, I didn’t even know they existed and I had been walking the perimeter of our territory since I was five.

“So, we’re looking around the caves and finding nothing when Cora stops again and says she smells the same scent she smelled near the northern border so we’re all looking around and trying to find the source when suddenly we’re getting attacked by trolls. Fucking trolls, Stiles. And they’re kicking our ass since they were able to sneak up on us. Eventually we manage to take them out and we came back, told Laura what happened. She said she was going to go back to the caves, see if she can find anything we missed, figure out what they were doing near the lake.” Stiles finishes cleaning and bandaging any remaining gashes they still haven’t healed—something he knows he should be concerned about because it has never taken Derek this long to heal from anything other than a smackdown from Laura—and watches as Derek heaves himself onto his feet, wobbling slightly as he situates himself enough to shuffle into their bedroom. Stiles shoots up and runs to his side, hand pressed firmly against his back. They make it to the bedroom and Derek falls unceremoniously onto the bed, his face smushed into the comforter and his arms thrown out completely. Stiles chuckles as he moves to pull off Derek’s shoes and jeans, forcing him onto his back and under the covers when he’s done. He shuffles up the bed some more until his head hits a pillow that he promptly shoves his head under, a sigh of contentment coming out muffled from under it.

Stiles smiles and moves toward Derek. Leaning onto the bed, he places a quick kiss to the shoulder he has poking out of the covers. “Goodnight, Derek.”

Pulling the pillow off of his head slightly, Derek turns so he’s staring up at Stiles groggily, a small smile on his lips as he looks up at him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Derek.” Smiling more, he moves to shove the pillow back over Derek’s head. “Now go to sleep.” Stiles quietly moves to leave the bedroom and goes back into the living room, staring at the already dry blood stains splattered on the sofa in disdain before throwing himself onto the cushions and turning on the tv. Now all he has to do is wait. Wait for Derek to wake up or wait for someone to call him with something.

~

Stiles doesn’t have to wait long because not even fifteen minutes into the episode of Psych he has playing on Netflix, Laura comes barging into the apartment, Erica, Lydia, and Saoirse hot on her heels. Laura looks determined, her brow furrowed and her mouth pressed into a thin line as she strides towards him, her hand closed tightly around something he can’t clearly make out.

Pausing the episode quickly, Stiles hopes up and meets Laura halfway, a finger to his lips to silence her before she even begins, not wanting to wake Derek in the slightest bit.

“Whatever you’re about to say, please say it quietly. Derek’s sleep and I’d really like to keep it that way.” Stiles whispers fiercely, staring at all four girls combined to make sure they listen to him. All he gets for his efforts are four pairs of eyes rolled at his words and a fond smile from Laura, the type of smile she always gets when faced with Stiles and Derek being _StilesandDerek_ —or Sterek, as she likes to call them. She has a weird fascination with mashing couples names together as if they’re they next power couple of Hollywood like Brangelina. She calls Cora and Isaac Corsaac and everyone hates it.

“How about we talk in the office?” Laura suggests, already walking farther into the apartment and to the soundproof room they converted into an “office” when they moved in. The room is mainly used for moments like this one, when things have to be said but they aren’t ready for the whole pack to know yet, as a place to suss out plans and make decisions without having eavesdroppers surrounding them and questioning them. It’s also where Stiles does his research for the pack and for school, pouring over hundred year old tombs to discover the weaknesses of the next big bad while also dissecting whatever text they were given for his British Lit class to find a way to support the fact that it was lowkey gay as hell. It’s a passion of his.

Stiles stops at his bedroom door to peek at Derek before making it into the office. He’s still sleep, his body starfished across the bed on his back. The comforter that was tucked tightly under his chin when Stiles first left is now thrown off the bed, hanging on barely over the top of Derek’s foot. He’s snoring as well, the sound light and barely there. Stiles smiles before he closes the door and joins the girls in the office.

Once he’s inside, door closed and locked behind him, he turns and stares at Laura, arms crossed over his chest as he waits. Laura’s sat in the desk chair, her eyes trained on the thing in the middle of the desk. He turns his eyes to it as well and realises it’s a rock. It’s about the size of his fist, maybe a tad bit bigger, and perfectly rounded on top. There’s paint on the part facing Laura, a symbol he can’t quite make out but he can clearly see the blood red paint smeared on it.

“After Derek told me what happened to them on patrol, I went out myself to check out the lake.” Laura’s still staring at the rock, her voice empty as she recounts what happened. “Obviously the girls tagged along since I can’t be trusted to do anything alone, no matter the fact that I’m the alpha of the most powerful pack in the western hemisphere. Anyway. So, we went looking for what they saw, for what they left behind. And when we got there, there was nothing. It was as if the place had been wiped clean, not even a stray scent lingering in the air to help us figure out who it was or where they went.

“We were leaving when I saw this sitting near the tree line sitting on top of a bunch of others.” She picks the rock up and tosses it to Stiles who catches it easily. Turning it over in his hands, he revels in the smoothness of the stone while he stares at the symbol painted on the face of it. It’s a triskele, that much he knows. The triskele is the symbol of the Hale Pack, a black celtic image where three branches spiral away from the middle and curve into themselves. It is a symbol of movement and change, something a strong and balanced pack should always be doing to better themselves. It is a symbol of three of the most important things to any person, be it the alpha, beta, omega hierarchy of a wolf pack or the relationship of mother, father and child.

This triskele, however, is blatantly different and it’s startling. Instead of each branch curving and spiraling smoothly into itself, they’re straight and angular, each corner harsh as it moves further away from the center before abruptly ending. Stiles can feel the anger of the symbol and from whoever drew it just by looking at it and it shakes him to his core and makes his blood run cold.

“What is this?” He asks, jerking his head up to stare at Laura. She’s still in the chair, hands perched on the desk and head down. Her hair is draped over her shoulders, hiding her face from everyone. “Laura?”

She lifts her head slowly and looks at him for a long moment, her green eyes showing more emotion than Stiles knows how to process at the moment before turning to look at Erica, Lydia, and Saoirse in turn. Once she’s looked at everyone, she turns back to Stiles and stands up fully, shaking her hair back behind her and pulling her shoulders back.

“It’s a pack symbol, that much I know. I don’t know whose it is or why it was on some stone on the outskirts of my territory but I want answers.” Walking from behind the desk, she strides towards Stiles and places a hand on his shoulder. “I need you for this, Stiles. I need you to find out whose pack symbol that is. Find out what they were doing so close to Beacon Hills and find out what they could possibly want. I want to end this before it even has a chance to start.”

Stiles is nodding before Laura even finishes talking. “Of course, Laura. Anything you need me to do, I will.”

She nods once before pulling him into a bone crushing hug, her hair tickling his nose and making him squirm. He brings his arms around her waist and squeezes her tight, pouring as much love and loyalty and commitment as he can into the contact. Stiles loves Laura deep to his core. She’s the sister he didn’t know he needed but completely wanted. She has a way of making sense of the mess in his head, supporting him and challenging him enough to make his life a bit harder but all the more worthwhile. That’s not saying that Derek doesn’t support him or challenge him or understand him, that’s not saying Derek is anything less than a perfect match to Stiles. It’s just that, Laura seems to fit in places that Derek doesn’t and it’s completely okay and amazing. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s his alpha—despite him not being a wolf he can feel the bond with the pack deep in his stomach, some pulls stronger than others—and she commands respect but also gives it back so easily and equally. Maybe it’s the fact that even though in the beginning she had a very slight clue of what to do and how to live and flipped it around and turned it into the best outcome to a tragedy for them all.

It’s a plethora of things Stiles hasn’t been able to pinpoint for the past six years and he doubt he’ll be able to in the next sixty but it’s enough to make him want to try and do anything he can for the people he cares about the most in his life.

He pulls back from the hug and motions Laura away from him and towards the office door. “Out, out, I have research to do and I can’t have you beautiful ladies distracting me.” Moving around the room, he pulls everyone else in from goodbye hugs and kisses on the cheeks before moving to walk them to the front door. “Laura, I’ll call you if I find anything. Lydia, I’ll call you if I need help going through the mountain of resources I will no doubt find myself under. Erica, Saoirse, I’ll call one or both of you if I feel like my head’s going to explode and I need fun times, okay? Love you guys.”

After goodbyes are exchanged for a second time and the front door is firmly closed and locked behind them, Stiles drops his head against the door and sighs deeply. He knows he’s in for long days and nights pouring over books untranslated texts from 15th century Europe and he isn’t looking forward to it in the slightest. But it’s what he has to do so he sucks it up, takes in a deep breath, and moves to go back towards the office, ready to start making progress.

 

**Fri. November 11, 2011**

Ever since Scott got bit, he had been spending more and more time in the half renovated Hale mansion, constantly practicing with Laura and Derek, trying to become the best werewolf he could be. At first, Stiles felt left out. His best friend in the whole world—his only friend in the whole world—was accepted into the world of weird that was behind the mortal curtain they originally knew as real life while he stayed the same as before, a lanky and annoying _human_ pain in the ass. He didn’t have any special abilities like the rest of them, couldn’t heal faster than normal or grow claws where his fingers should be or smell and hear things beyond his reach. The only thing he could do was sit back and watch, lusting after something he didn’t have.

He tagged along to every single one of Scott’s practices, plopping his ass down onto the one non-splintered step on the front porch and watched. He took in each attack Laura and Derek launched Scott’s way, watched as Scott dropped from offense to defence easily to save himself from Derek’s claws. He watched as Scott walked around the preserve blindfolded, following scents and sounds in Hide and Seek: Werewolf Edition. All the while, Stiles sat on the step, eyes following every movement and lodging details into the back of his brain to look into later when he’s in his room.

Laura eventually felt bad for him because one day, instead of just allowing Stiles to sit on his ass and gaze longingly at the three of them, she thrusted an old cardboard box into his arms, looked at him intensely and said nothing more than “Read.” So Stiles read. He pushed himself off his step and walked into the house, moving to sit on the floor of the half renovated living room. The box was full of books, some of them slightly blackened and charred from the fire that destroyed the house years ago while some of them were in completely perfect condition, looking brand new even if the language on the pages suggested otherwise.

He sat in the living room for the remainder of practice, flipping through books and reading, placing bookmarks at things he found extremely interesting and things he wanted to research more himself. He had a notebook pulled from his backpack and opened to a random page, notes crammed into margins and any other empty space he could find. That was how Scott found him at the end of the day, half of the books from the box opened around him, his notebook in one hand and his phone in another, the pen shoved into his mouth as he tried to translate the Ancient Greek from the book directly in front of him.

“Stiles,” Stiles startled at the sudden voice and turned around to find the source. Scott was propped against the wall opening that separated the living room from the foyer, arms over his chest and a curious look on his face. “What’re you doing?”

Stiles looked around him and tried to see what Scott saw in that moment. He was surrounded by books and was taking notes as if he had a big test at school the next day. Paper was in multiple piles all around him, all of it holding something vitally important or interesting enough to hold is attention for longer than ten minutes. He was pretty sure he had blue ink on his face from the numerous times he tried to shove the pen into his mouth and missed.

“I’m...studying?” Stiles didn’t truly know what to call what he was doing. He was researching without a cause, jotting down anything and everything he could.

He puts down everything he had in his hands and stood up, shaking out his limbs to get some sort of feeling back into them. “Laura gave me this box full of books while you guys were practicing and I guess I got sucked in. There’s like, the history and origin of everything in those books, Scotty! Like, things I was 100% sure would be fake despite the fact that we live in the world of the supernatural, they’re real. Unicorns and vampires and genies and faeries, all real! It’s just, it’s so awesome.”

“We used to have more than just a box full of books.” Laura’s voice sounded from behind Stiles and he jumped, scared by the sudden sound behind him. Turning to face her, Stiles took in the far away look she had on her face, like a memory was filtering through her mind and she didn’t know how to react to it exactly. “We had a home library that would put probably put most public libraries to shame. Books hundreds of years old, all of them with information about anything and everything supernatural. We even had our family history written out too, in this big book that had its own pedestal, it was that important.” She smiled slightly, her eyes sad as she remembered everything that had before the fire.

“Those are only books we could save, the only ones not in too bad condition or in a safety deposit box because they were so important. And now they’re yours, Stiles.”

“Woah, what? What do you mean they’re mine?”

Laura smiled softly at Stiles and moved closer to him, bumping her shoulder. “Stiles, I know you feel like you don’t fit in with Scott, Derek, and me. Like you don’t belong in the pack. Shut up, don’t try and deny the truth. Look, I know and I understand and I want you to know that that is the farthest thing from the truth. You are important. You might not be able to see it the way the rest of us can, might not be able to feel in deep inside but you are so important to us. You tie us together, you’re our humanity. You’re one of the most important people in this pack, no matter how small it is.

“These books are some of the only thing we have left from the fire. They need to be taken care of and appreciated, something I know you would do. The information in these books need to be protected and rewritten for the pack to us when the time comes. The history and stories of my family need to be recovered so we can continue to pass them down as this pack grows larger and continues on through the years. Why not give the most important job to one of the most important people, the one person I know, without a doubt, will do the job 100 times better than anything I could hope for?”

She was smiling at Stiles, a tiny, private one that was only for him, while he stared on in shock. It was true, he had been doubting how useful he could be to a group of superhumans, was wondering constantly why they let him stick around. To be told that he was important, by the Alpha even, help brush away any lingering doubt he had.

“Laura, I-I don’t know what to say. I just- thank you so much for this.”

“It’s no problem at all Stiles. Now, clean this mess up and go home, I believe you have some work to do.”

 

**Sun. July 17, 2016**

“An Alpha Pack,” Stiles marches into Laura’s office and drops the bestiary on the desk with a hollow thump. She looks up from the papers strewn out in front of her slowly. He’s pretty sure she’s still going over treaty agreements from the wandering herd of faeries they found in the preserve and alliance propositions from the Malocklin Pack down in Chula Vista. Both of those things have been going on for months and Laura’s at her wits end, usually sending Stiles and Knox to handle negotiations for the pack since it’s technically their job as emissary and emissary in training. “That’s what’s been leaving the symbol around. They’re probably the cause of all the other shit that’s been kicking our asses the last few days, too.”

Ever since Derek’s run in with the trolls, the pack has been getting hit by surprises left and right. On Thursday, after their weekly pack meeting at the local diner, Stiles was walking back to his Jeep with Erica and Kira when they got ambushed by a cloud of purple smoke, causing them to black out instantly. The three of them had woken up in the middle of the forest, surrounded by fae. Stiles could clearly see their glamour shifting and moving, the ugly truth showing clearly showing every time the magic slipped very slightly.

Kira and Erica had instantly gone on the offensive, both of them shifting into their respective forms and pushing Stiles behind them, growling and slashing at any fae that got too close for comfort. Stiles sat back and watched, calculating how exactly he could get them out of this situation.

The circle around the kept getting smaller when someone, Stiles chose to believe he was the head of this whole operation, started to speak.

“Well, well, it looks like we caught ourselves a few of the Hale Pack’s bitches.” The guy walked closer to them, his hands clasped behind his back. He was ridiculously tall, bending down at his waist to look them in the eye as if they were children asking inane questions. “We were hoping for your alpha but you three will do just nicely, I suppose.”

“What do you want?” Stiles finally piped up from the back of the group, his patience wearing extremely thin at that point in time.

“What I want, little one, is to kill your alpha and watch your pack diminish, but I’ll settle for sending a message for now on.” He came closer again, causing Kira and Erica to shift their focus to him. They growled loudly, Kira’s aura glowing brighter and hotter as the seconds passed. Erica was in her full beta shift, spittle flying from her mouth as she snarled and growled.

With a flick of his wrist, they were surrounded by a thick cloud of fog. Turning around, Stiles tried to find the source of it all or even a weak spot to get out of, and found nothing. The fae’s voice began to drift around them, disembodied and ominous. It wasn’t coming from one solid point around them so they forced themselves to stop fighting for a way out and just listen.

“Tell little miss Laura Hale that this isn’t her game anymore. She has a new opponent and they’re bigger and badder than she can ever hope to be.” The voice drifted past Stiles ear, causing him to shiver and the hairs on the back of his neck to rise. “Tell her that no matter how big her pack is, nor how strong her alliances may be, she just can’t win.”

The fog began to turn a deep blue, causing everything to be dumped into darkness. Stiles began to worry, turning in any direction he could to find a way out when he suddenly began to feel lightheaded and weak. He was on his knees when he sees Erica passed out on the ground and Kira very much on her way to joining her.

Stiles tried to fight it, he really did but the harder he fought the sleepier he got. The last thing he remembered before passing out was the fae’s face laughing down at him as the fog dissipated.

They had woken up at the Hale house, the whole pack standing around whoever bed they were laid on with varying looks of worry on their face. Laura was standing closest to him so she noticed first when he began to wake up.

“Stiles, are you okay? What happened?” She had her hands on his forehead, sweeping his hair back from his eyes repeatedly as she looked at him. She looked scared, an emotion he’s never actually seen on her face in all the years he’s known her. Her hands were shaking as they touched his hair, her eyes constantly moving to take him in, as if she didn’t truly believe he was real and 100% okay.

“Laura, I’m fine. We’re all fine.” He could feel Erica and Kira moving around as they finally woke up.

“What happened after the diner?” Derek asked the question from his position behind Laura. To the untrained eye, Derek looked unbothered, his face giving away none of his feelings but Stiles knows him and knew he was shaking with worry and relief on the inside.

“Well, we were walking back to the car when we got ambushed by stupid purple fae smoke. Ended up in the preserve with some douchebag faerie talking about leaving messages and ending our pack.”

From the corner of his eye, Stiles saw Laura's glare go nuclear at the mention of her pack in danger. The look sent a shiver down his spine but he continued talking. “That's really all he did was talk, made vague threats about something “bigger and badder”. Then we got knocked out by some more weird smoke and woke up here.” Stiles still had no clue what the fae was talking about, nor did he truly want to.

Laura's glare was still holding strong but she quickly composed herself when she looked at her three pack members before her. “Well, let’s just, not worry about it for now, okay? Get cleaned up, get some food, get some rest. We’ll deal with this tomorrow.”

Everyone turned to follow Laura out the door minus Derek, who kept his eyes trained on Stiles the whole time.

“Derek, are you going to say what you have to say,” Stiles wasn't looking at Derek, too busy trying to convince his body to cooperate with him and go through the motions of leaving the bed and entering the bathroom. He wasn't having much success. “Or are you just going to continue to stare at me and brood and worry in silence.” Stiles finally pushed himself into a standing position on the side of the bed, chest burning as he panted for breath. Whatever those fae used really took it out of him.

“I was worried.”

That much Stiles figured. Derek only ever gets like this when he's truly afraid that someone he cares about got hurt.

“When I didn't see the jeep at the house after the diner, I didn't pay it much mind. You're always veering off course, especially with Erica and Kira. But when you hadn't shown up after an hour, I got worried. I got _scared_.”

Stiles paused on his mission to the bathroom and looked at Derek, really looked. His arms were still crossed tightly over his chest and, at first glance, it seems like a completely nonchalant gesture. But Stiles is actually paying attention, can tell that this is Derek’s way of holding himself together and not breaking down. His eyes kept running over Stiles’ body, as if to make sure he was still there and real and unharmed.

Sighing deeply, Stiles lifted a hand and motioned Derek closer towards him, allowing his warm body to envelope him. Derek curled closer to Stiles, his nose in the junction of his neck. Wrapping his arms around Derek’s waist, Stiles let himself stop and wait. Wait for Derek to crack and breathe and be.

They stood like that, in the middle of the bedroom in each other's arms, for almost an hour, Stiles legs buckling towards the end. Derek tightened his hold on Stiles’ waist and pulled back to look.

“Let's get you in the bath.” Derek shifted so he only had one arm around Stiles waist, taking most of his weight and essentially carrying him into the bathroom. Sitting him down on the lid of the toilet, Derek worked on turning on the water and checking the temperature while Stiles undressed. He was pulling his undershirt over his head when he heard Derek gasp loudly, his hands instantly on his skin.

“Stiles, where did this come from?”

“Where did what come from?” Stiles tried to twist his body to stare at his back but couldn’t. “What is it?”

It’s the symbol. From the cave with the trolls. It’s been tattooed on your back.” Derek’s grip on his hips tightened on the edge of too painful before he let go and stood up. “I’m going to get Laura. She needs to know about this.”

From that moment, Laura had been down Stiles’ throat about figuring out what the hell that symbol was and he finally has.

“An Alpha Pack,” Laura repeats back slowly, a look of disbelief on her face. “Now that’s just not possible.”

“I thought the same thing until,” Stiles moves so he's standing beside Laura, his fingers flipping through the pages of the bestiary quickly. “I came upon this.” The page in front of them was short, scratched out in Stiles’ messy handwriting. The short paragraphs wore rewritten in their original German with a few english translations along the margins, enough for Stiles to get the gist of what was being said.

Laura scans the page but quickly gave up with a heavy sigh. “Stiles, I don't read German, I don't know what any of this says.”

“That’s what I’m here for, Laura,” Stiles points at the first line of text on the page and begins to read. “The first and second paragraphs basically talk about how, 150 years ago, packs of Alphas started popping up all around. Most of them didn’t last very long due to so many batting heads until the packs began to submit to the highest Alpha. But it’s the picture that’s really the most important.”

Laura looks at the picture at the bottom of the page, her eyes widening slightly when she sees what it is. It’s the same exact symbol they found in the caves and on Stiles’ back.

“That,” Stiles begins, his voice pitched low. “Is the universal symbol of an Alpha pack. And it seems like they’re coming for us.

 

**Tues. April 15, 2014**

This was the worst birthday present Stiles has ever received in his 17 years of life.

They were all currently standing in the preserve, another pack of wolves—the Jones Pack, god he hated them with a passion— standing across from them and they do not look happy.

For the past three months (Three! Months! the assholes), Alpha Jones and his pack have been parading around Beacon Hills and the surrounding territories like they owned the place. It drove majority of the wolves insane—Erica and Luca almost got into it with two of the Jones betas at the park a few weeks ago, it wasn’t pretty—but there wasn’t much they could do since Laura had given them her permission to enter their territory. A decision she was regretting deeply at that moment.

They found out a week or so prior that the real reason the Jones Pack was in town was to essentially case out the place: see how they felt about the town and the people, if the woods were good enough for them to frolick in during the full moon and all other times in between, see if the land of Beacon Hills was good territory for a pack. They were in town to begin to stake their claim on the land they believed would be yours after they took Laura out of the picture.

When Laura had heard what they were planning, she offered the other Alpha an ultimatum; leave Beacon Hills and never come back or suffer the repercussions of challenging an Alpha for their territory. They didn’t listen and take the opportunity to run.

“Well, Laura,” Alpha Jones stepped forward from his pack, bringing himself closer to the rest of them. From in front him, Stiles heard Derek and Boyd growl loudly, the two of them shifting into a crouch at Laura’s back. “Is all of this really necessary?”

“Yes,” Laura growls, her face slowly morphing into her beta shift, eyes glowing red hot. “It is.”

“Well, if you insist.” Between one blink and the next, Jones was on Laura, his clawed hand reached for her throat. Laura blocked his attack easily, a snarl leaving her mouth in the process, before she got her feet on his stomach and kicked him up and away.

The moment Laura was back on her feet everyone sprang into action. Derek and Boyd instantly countered the two betas making their way to Stiles and Knox, cutting them off with a quick swipe of their claws. Derek grabs one of them by the back of their neck, effortlessly raising them in the air to slam them back down, the ground under their back splintering from the impact.

Stiles ran towards the back of the group, closer to the neutral territory to do what he does best. Tossing his bag on the ground, he ripped it open and started pouring its contents on the ground, quickly shuffling through the different powders and pastes until he found what he needed. While he dumped a handful of turquoise powder in the palm of his hand, he looked up quickly to see how things were progressing and how much damage control he had to do.

Laura was still giving Jones a run for his money, blocking and countering every attack he sent her way. Derek and Boyd had taken down their first two wolves and had moved on, their bodies moving so quickly Stiles couldn’t see who was winning or losing until a spray of red left the other wolf’s body and they collapsed with a solid _thunk_. Knox was doing what he did best, bending the odds to the Hale Pack’s favour, setting up magical roadblocks and barriers to put off the Jones Pack for just a moment longer. Stiles saw a few of Allison’s arrows zip through the air and embed in shoulders and thighs, bringing down wolf after wolf with a practiced ease.

Whispering quiet words of Latin to the powder in his hands, Stiles blew the powder out of his hand and watched in spread through the air, the blue shining brighter and brighter, attaching itself to his pack and doing what it was meant to do. Their attacks came faster, the defenses got stronger, their wounds closing faster than should be possible, even for a werewolf.

The Jones Pack didn’t stand a chance against them, truthfully.

Stiles gathered more powder in his hand, this one a subdued ruby colour, and moved with ease through the fighting, sprinkling the powder where it was needed to bring down a stray wolf on its way to him or to aid a pack member on the losing end of a fight. They couldn’t lose to this pack, to this ridiculous excuse for an Alpha who believed he was due whatever he wanted solely because of his status.

Stiles had made his way through the group, all of Jones’ betas on the ground in various stages of recovery. Turning, he saw Laura had a hand around Jones’ neck and was squeezing, the man trying to pry her hands away so he could breathe.

“So, this is what you are going to do.” Laura had her Alpha voice on, the one she used so sparingly with the pack, the one that commanded respect and attention. It made the hairs on the back of Stiles’ neck stand up and a shiver of fear race along his spine.

“You’re going to gather up your pathetic excuse of a pack and you are going to leave this place immediately. You are going to tell everyone you know that the Hale Pack is not to be trifled with; we can protect what is ours and we will. I do not want to see your face anywhere near Beacon Hills for at least twenty more years. Do I make myself clear, Alpha Jones?”

“Yes, Alpha Hale. Crystal. I am sorry I believed this was a good idea. We’ll leave, immediately.”

“Splendid.” Laura dropped him on the ground and watched as he scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible, his pack following his lead much slower than he. “Now. Run.” The words came out as a growl and Laura’s eyes flashed their bright Alpha red. Stiles heard the Jones betas whimper in submission as they turned tail and ran, their Alpha hot on their heels with his tail between his legs.

They stood in the middle of the preserve in silence for a few moments, the humans catching their breath while the wolves waited for their few remaining wounds to heal completely. Eventually, the silence got to be too much for Stiles so he cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing around at his friends before say, “Well, this was a fun birthday. Milkshakes anyone?”

 

**Weds. July 20, 2016**

Stiles is 90% sure he’s being followed.

Call it paranoia or eyes in the back of his head but ever since he walked out of his Euro Lit course twenty minutes ago, the hairs on the nape of his neck have been up, a shiver raking over his spine repeatedly. He doesn’t feel safe in anyway which is goddamn hilarious considering he takes on packs of supernatural assholes constantly who like to threaten the puny human. He didn’t feel scared when he got kidnapped and beaten to near death by a psychotic shifter with a serious misunderstanding of the word “no” (Amber really needs to learn how to _not_ use him as her fall back guy when she rejects weirdos thank you very much) nor when he was literally taken away by magical fae smoke a few days ago, so why is he scared by some weird feeling now.

He turns onto Richardson Street, a sense of relief and calmness engulfing him as Derek’s apartment building comes into few. He’s so close to home, so close to being away from whatever this feeling is. Stiles is coming up on the building when a couple steps in front of him. The woman is gorgeous, her skin a beautiful olive tone with dark hair that shines russet in the sun. Her companion is the one that sets him off slightly. He’s blind, his eyes shielded by red tinted frames. His left hand has a loose hold on a white cane while his right is placed lightly on the woman’s arm. There’s something about him Stiles doesn’t like, a more intense version of the feeling he had walking home, like the person that was watching him isn’t anymore, but doing something far worse.

“Excuse me,” By now, the couple has stopped directly in front of Stiles, the woman staring at him so intensely he feels naked. The man is the one who’s talking, his gaze just as intense despite the fact that he is blind behind his glasses. “I don’t mean to be a bother but, well, me and the missus are lost, you see. We’ve been walking around for a good half hour trying to find out way to Trenton Boulevard. Would you be so kind as to show us the way?”

“Or course,” Stiles turns around so he can lead the couple to the end of the street, where Richardson meets Trenton.

“You’re too kind,” The woman says behind him. He turns to look over his shoulder and smile at her.

“It’s no big deal, truly.” They keep walking, the street sign indicating the intersection growing bigger in the distance until they’re standing by it. Turning to look at the couple, Stiles smiles. “Walk down this street and you’ll be on Trenton.” Stiles begins to shuffle his feet back in the direction he was originally going. “I hope you two have a good rest of your day!” He waves quickly before moving down the street again, head up high as he whistles a nonsense tune.

“Wait! One more thing,” He hears the lady shout after him, making him stop abruptly and turn to her. She has a smirk on her face as she walks—no saunters—over towards him. She's picking at her nails, watching with glee as they slowly grow out and shift into razor sharp claws. Her eyes slowly faded into the bright ruby red of an Alpha and Stiles feels his heart beat harder in his chest. This must be one of the wolves in the Alpha Pack, he is so fucked.

“This might hurt. And I'm not at all sorry about it.” Between one heartbeat and the next, he has a sharp pain exploding between his eyes, everything around him going black as his knees go weak and he falls to the ground in a boneless heap.

~

Stiles wakes up in pain. His mouth feels like it's been stuffed full of cotton and he can open his eyes without crying out in pain due to the bright lights strung up all around. His back is propped up against a pole, the cold metal freezing his skin through his thin t-shirt.

After a few minutes, he’s finally able to keep his eyes open without the need to throw up, allowing him to take in his surroundings. He’s in a basement but that much he already figured out, it tends to be the bad guys default holding location. There isn’t much else in the room besides him and a stray chair in the corner. The concrete under his ass is cold and his head is throbbing, the pain getting worse every time he blinks.

“Ah, the young one is finally awake.” Stiles hears someone moving behind him and tries to turn around to see who it is without much success. “Now, none of that, it’ll be okay.” Suddenly, the woman from earlier is in his face, a cruel smirk playing on the edges of her lips. Stiles heart kicks up a beat, thudding so hard in his chest he’s pretty sure you can see it. That makes her smile even more, one of her claws running down the front of his shirt lightly.

“You’re just the cutest, aren’t you?” She laughs, a dark sound that makes him want to find a corner to cower in.

“Who are you?” His voice is weak and soft from disuse. It makes him sound scared, maybe scared than he truly is, he isn’t sure. “Where am I?’

“Oh, cutie,” She moves to pinch his cheeks and sits down fully in front of him. “Well, my name is Kali. The man that was with me earlier, that’s Deucalion. And we’re Alphas! There’s a few more of us, actually. We’re a pack. And you, you’re right where we need you to be because soon, your Alpha and the rest of your pack will come running to get back their token human. And we can get rid of them.” The gleam in her eyes as she said the last bit caused Stiles’ blood to freeze. She and the pack planned on killing them, all of them, and were using Stiles as bait. Typical.

“You know you aren’t going to get away with this, right? We’re stronger than we look, we won’t go out that easily.”

“But you will though. Especially since we have you and we will kill you.”

Before Stiles could say anything else, she walks out the door hidden in the corner behind him, the sound of it slamming close making him jump.  

 _Derek is coming. Laura is coming. Everyone is coming._ He repeats those words over and over again in his head, hoping they’re true.

~

This time he wakes to someone poking him hard in the ribs. He grumbles and tries to move away from the poking, only for it to happen harder, his eyes flying open to glare at whoever is torturing him.

It’s Kali again, a smile on her face and she stands propped up against a wall, the stick she used to poke him in her hand. “Up Sleeping Beauty. Your pack’s here.” She pokes him one more time and then goes to stand by the door and wait.

Stiles pushes himself onto his feet, happy to see he can actually stand without wobbling in the slightest. He looks over to Kali, her words finally registering in his brain.

“Wait, they’re here? They actually came?”

“Of course they did. And now, the real fun begins.” Kali reaches forwards and grips his upper arm hard, dragging him behind her as they make their way through the maze that is the basement. They finally make it to another room, the lights in here just as bright as in Stiles’ room. He could see everyone on the other side of the room, their eyes tracking his movements in Kali’s arms. Even from the other side of the room, Stiles can hear Derek’s growl at her hold on him.

Kali pulls him until he is standing directly to the right of the blind guy, Deucalion. Kali stays by his side, her grip on his arm still vise tight and unwavering.

“Now that we’re all here,” Deucalion started. He was still wearing his red glasses but he was staring straight ahead, directly at Laura. The other Alpha is standing tall, Derek and Boyd in their correct positions at her flanks. Knox is directly behind Laura, where Stiles should be as emissary of the pack. The rest of the pack is fanned out behind those four, each person in various attack positions. Stiles locks eyes with Scott for a brief moment, the other boy nodding as if to say _we have this, Stiles._ God, he hoped they did, he really did. “Let’s talk.”

“Let Stiles go first and we just might.” That was Derek, his words coming out as more of a growl than anything truly human.

“Now, I can’t do that. Mr. Stilinski is too important to just give back to you.” Deucalion laughs and Stiles saw Derek shift as if to attack the Alpha, the only thing keeping him relatively calm is Laura’s words in his ear.

“Deucalion,” Laura turned to the older Alpha, her eyes flashing quickly before they return to their normal hazel color. “Give me back my emissary. Leave town and I might, I _might_ , forgive this blatant act of disrespect against my pack.”

“My dear Laura, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I came here for you and I fully intend to leave with what I want.” Deucalion began to shift in the moment, his face shifting into a grotesque version of what he should be. He’s larger than any wolf in beta shift has the right to be. His shoulders widened significantly, as if he were two people instead of one. The Alpha red of his eyes is so bright it shines clear from behind his glasses and his claws grow so long they shatter the plastic cane in his hands.

Snarling loudly, spittle flying from his mouth, Deucalion charges at Laura who stands her ground as if she’s not about to go up against a werewolf on steroids. While Laura is facing Deucalion, the rest of the pack spread out and pair off, each pair going after more of the pack that Stiles’ didn’t even see standing off to the sides of the room. Derek and Scott made their way to where he’s still in Kali’s hold, both of them shifting as they charge her. Stiles gets tossed to the side as she focuses on her opponents, his body colliding with the concrete wall so hard the air rushes out of his lungs. He hears and feels his head smack against the wall, feels his brain rattle inside his skull and his neck snap back and forth. He most certainly has a concussion and possible whiplash, at the least.

From his position slumped on the ground, Stiles can’t see most of the fighting but he can hear it. He hears Scott and Derek taking on Kali, hears every grunt and groan of pain from the Alpha’s attacks, from wounds that won’t heal for hours or maybe even days. He hears Laura roar as she takes an attack from the monster that is Deucalion, hears her fight back harder with each attack she blocks and counters. He hears Knox whispering spells and throwing attacks to help his packmates get the upper hand. Hears Allison and Lydia finally arrive, arrows whistling through the air and guns firing and ricocheting around. But he also hears his breath rattle, hears himself wheeze every time he tries to breathe, an action that’s getting harder and harder with each passing moment. He feels his heartbeat slowing down, feels his eyes droop and stay closed for longer each time he blinks.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed but it’s gotten quiet. The fighting has stopped and he can feel someone’s hands on his face, on his shoulders, pushing him onto his back. He can also hear voices but they’re distant and foggy, making it hard to match the voice with the person.

“Is he still alive?” One voice says. They sound scared and he can relate because he’s scared too, so, so scared.

“Yeah, but barely. His heartbeat’s too slow and he’s hardly breathing. We have to do something, _now_.”

“Laura, can you change him? That’ll save him, right?”

“It might. But he could also die. He’s extremely weak right now, it might not even take. It’s too much of a risk.”

“Well it’s a risk we have to take. We have to save him. I can’t let him die. He can’t die. Laura, you’re the only one who can save him. Please. For me.” Someone sounds like they’re crying, like the idea of him dying is too much for them to handle so he just can’t do it.

There’s a sigh and the sound of clothes moving, the sound of someone moving closer. “Fine. Give me room.” The hands on his face disappear and a new pair grasp his arm, holding onto his wrist and elbow firmly. “This is going to hurt, Stiles. Sorry.”

Well, at least they warned him because the only thing Stiles feels in that moment is pain. He’s pretty sure he screams but he isn’t 100% sure because he’s also pretty sure he blacked out as well.

  


**. part two .**

 

**Thurs. July 21, 2016 (3 o'clock am)**

When he first begins to wake up, the first thing he realises is that he’s uncomfortable as hell. Where he’s laying is cold, hard, and uncomfortable. His body feels heavy and not like his. He feels weird.

Stiles begins to open his eyes slowly only to slam them shut again, the overhead light in the room way too bright for his sensitive eyes. He groans, his brain exploding in pain from the lights. He rolls onto his side, almost as if to get away from the lights.

He hears a door open, the hinges creaking so loudly he covers his ears with his hands and moans again. Everything has gotten ten times more intense, causing everything to hurt and he hates it.

“Stiles,” That’s Derek, he’d know his voice anywhere. He sounds far away and worried, his voice barely a whisper compared to all the other noises Stiles can hear. Why can he hear so much? “Stiles, are you okay?”

“No. I think I’m dying.”

Derek chuckles, the sound verging on the edge of normal volume. “Well, I’d hope not. We worked hard to make sure you didn’t”

That got Stiles’ attention, making him bring his head up from under his arms to stare/squint at Derek. He looks pale in this lighting, his skin flushed white and his eyes dead. He’s hovering close to the door, as if if he got any closer to Stiles he’d cause the boy pain but he also looks like he wants to touch, badly, and the only reason he isn’t is due to the fact that he has his hands stuffed in his back pockets.

“What do you mean to make sure I didn’t? Did I almost die? What happened?”

Derek sighs heavily, finally moving from his spot by the door to the chair that’s next to Stiles’ cot. Now that he’s more awake and able to take in his surroundings without wanting to die, he realizes they’re at the clinic, Stiles on the metal operating table Deaton has in the back. Why are they here instead of the hospital?

“How much do you remember, Stiles?”

Truly, not much. He remembered helping Deucalion and Kali when he was going back to the apartment, remembered Kali knocking him out cold, waking up in some random basement. He remembered Kali talking and bragging about what they had planned for Laura and the pack, remembered standing next to Deucalion when Laura and everyone had arrived. Everything after that is a mess of darkness and muffled sounds, nothing standing out enough for him to grasp and pull a memory from. Which is exactly what he tells Derek.

“When we got there, Laura didn’t want to waste much time trying to negotiate with Deucalion. He was in our territory and he had you and she wanted him gone immediately. He tried to talk, said something about how he came here for Laura and he was going to leave with her. He was using you as leverage I guess, a means to an end, and he wouldn’t give you up until he had what he wanted, something Laura didn’t give him. So we ended up fighting, obviously. Laura took on Deucalion, the rest of us paired off to handle the others—they were all alphas so even two on one it was almost impossible. Boyd and I, we went after the girl who was holding you, Kali? When we started getting closer to her, I guess she decided that she no longer cared whether you were okay or not because she, uh, she tossed you across the room, into the wall. Tossed you hard enough you broke a few of your ribs and they ended up puncturing your lung. You also cracked your skull. It was, it was bad. You were dying. So Laura she, she bit you, to save your life.”

Stiles’ vision tunnels out when Derek finishes talking. He almost died. He almost died and to combat that, he got turned.

He starts gasping for air. His throat is closing and he can’t get in enough air and he’s scared. His arms are shaking too bad for him to sit up so he just brings his legs closer to his chest and hugs them, shoves his head in between his knees and tries to breathe.

“Stiles, baby, calm down.” He hears Derek get out of the chair, feels his hands on his too hot skin. “I need you to breathe with me. Focus on me, on my breathing and my heartbeat and match it. It’s okay.” He tries, he really really does but it’s so hard. He feels like his world is crashing down and ending. He never wanted to be a were, was perfectly okay being the scrawny little know-it-all human in the background who occasionally messed with magic (which was still too supernatural for him let me tell you).

Derek grabs his hand and places it on his chest, directly over his heart. “Stiles. Focus on me, on my heart, on my breathing. You can do this, you’ll be okay.” The steady _thu thump_ of his boyfriend’s heart was a good distraction, the physical feeling giving him something concrete to latch onto. After a few minutes, he was coming down, his breathing becoming slightly normal and his heartbeat slow enough for him.

“Okay, I’m okay.” Stiles pulls his hand away from Derek’s chest and pushes himself up into a sitting position, his ass already hurting thanks to the metal operating table he’s been laying on for who knows how long. “I’m okay and I’m a werewolf. I’m okay.”

“Uhm, about that,” Derek starts messing with his fingers, his eyes glued to the floor as he finishes speaking. “You’re not a wolf.”

“If I’m not a wolf then what the hell am I?” Please don’t let him be a kanima like Jackson was the first go ‘round. They don’t need that again.

“You’re a fawn.”

“I’m a **what**?”

 

**Tues. Oct 22, 2013**

“What do you mean I’m not a wolf? I came to you to turn me into a wolf and you can’t even do that right?! What kind of Alpha are you?”

Jackson was stood in front of Laura’s desk, shouting at the Alpha as if he didn’t feel deeply attached to his balls and wished they remained on his body. Laura, bless her heart, just seemed mildly annoyed at the fact that she had to deal with the asshole, sighing the heaviest sigh Stiles has ever heard when he finished talking.

“Jackson, I’m only going to say thing once and I want you to actually listen this time, okay?” She leaned forward, her elbows placed on her desk and her chin in her hands. “It is not my fault that you don’t shift into a wolf. It, truly, is no one’s fault but your own. And before you start going off again, let me explain. Sometimes, the shape you take reflects the person you are.

“There are multiple different types of shifters and weres, many of which I have met. They grow old and they have families and kids who, nine times out of ten, turn out to be the exact same type of shifter their parents are. Take Derek, Cora, and I for example. We come from a family of wolves. Our parents were wolves, as were our grandparents and great-grandparents. Majority of my aunts, uncles, cousins, they were all wolves as well. Except for one of my uncles, he didn’t turn into a wolf like the rest of us.

“My Uncle Joseph, my dad’s oldest brother, was born human. Something that happens more often in a wolf family than one would think. Anyway, my uncle got really sick one day. Cancer. And he was so stubborn he decided not to go through chemo, decided to tough it out himself. But he got worse, and worse, and worse until there wasn’t anything else they could do. Now my uncle, he didn’t want to die so he went to my mom, the Alpha, and begged her to give him the bite, to at least try. And my mom caved, gave him the bite the next night. And he turned, he wasn’t human anymore. But he also wasn’t a wolf. He was something else, something...wrong, almost. He was a beast, an actual monster. In the end, my mom had to kill him, couldn’t risk him shifting and harming anyone no matter if she was able to teach him to control it.

“Jackson, what you shift into is a monster, something that my mother would have killed the moment she laid eyes on it. But I am not my mother so I am not going to kill you, a blessing, I know. But you need to change, you become someone worthy of gracing the form of a wolf. I’ll work with you because I’m your Alpha and I care about you, even if you don’t think so. But if you can’t get your shit together in a month, either you get the hell out of Beacon Hills or I will kill you. Understand?”

Jackson had been frozen throughout Laura’s entire speech, his eyes widening to a point that was almost comical if Laura hadn’t threatened to end his life.

“Yes, Alpha Hale. I understand.”

“Good. Now leave.” Jackson rushed out of the office, the door slamming as he ran.

 

**Thurs. July 21, 2016 (continued)**

“So let me get this right,” Stiles is standing currently, Laura and Derek standing to his right, the rest of the pack in various stages of comfort on the chairs and sofas in the living room. The couples have taken over the couches. Allison, Kira, Scott, and Lydia are on the longest sofa, the two couples cuddled up with each other in something resembling a weird four-way if Stiles didn’t know any better. Stiles is sometimes still confused how the two exes can be such good friends considering everything they’ve been through, or the fact that he’s completely on board with one of his closest friends dating the girl he was in love with for such a long period of time. On the other couch, Erica is draped across Boyd’s lap, Cora and Isaac cuddled up at their feet. Erica’s playing with Cora’s hair and Isaac and Boyd seem to be talking about hockey for some reason.

Knox, boredom clear on his face, is throwing up little bursts of white light and catching them, sometimes throwing them at Amber and Elias when they seem to forget that they’re around other people and start making out too hard for his liking. Saoirse, Liam, Luca, and Jackson are all in the kitchen, the farthest away from Stiles, not even trying to pretend they’re paying attention to his crisis like everyone else is so kindly doing (and failing at).

Shaking his head, Stiles turns to Derek and Laura, the only two people who seem to actually care about what he’s feeling and what he has to say. “So, I’m a deer. Not a wolf. The bite turned me and instead of turning into a badass wolf with the fangs and the claws and the growling, I turn into a deer. No, a fawn. A baby deer.”

Laura nods. “Yep.” She looks so unbothered by this entire situation Stiles kind of wants to punch her. Currently, she’s cleaning under her nails, not even looking at Stiles as he freaks the fuck out.

“Do you not find it a bit weird? Like, wolf bites human, human turns into a fucking _deer_ instead of intended wolf.”

“Not really,” Laura looks up from her nails to stare at Stiles. “You heard the story of my uncle. Sometimes the shift you take reflects the person you are. Apparently, you’re a baby deer who can barely stand on its own. It’s cute actually.”

Stiles hates her in this moment, he really, truly does. He kind of wants to punch her in the face if that would do anything other hurt him in the end.

“This is, this is ridiculous.” Stiles begins to pace around, his hands going through his hair over and over again, sometimes pulling at it. He just doesn’t understand how this could happen. True, he never wanted to be a wolf but he didn’t even dream that he would have the chance and it would get taken away from him. “I am a prey animal. I am _your_ prey animal! Wolves hunt deer if you didn’t know. Like, they literally team up to take them down.”

“Stiles, it doesn’t matter what you shift into, you’re still pack. We still love you the same way we did before. Nothing has changed.” Laura walks in front of him and places her hands on his shoulders, stopping him from pacing away from her. “We’ll figure this out. Together. Like we always have.”

He sighs and drops his head on her shoulder. “I can’t fucking believe this.”

 

**Sat. Jan 3, 2016**

There were two boys in front of him, Liam and Luca if he remembered correctly. And they wanted the bite.

“Laura,” Stiles turned to his right and looked at Laura who looked like she was seriously considering giving these brats the bite. “Laura I don’t think you should. They’re like twelve! Liam looks like he has anger issues and Luca is named Luca. You can’t turn a guy named Luca into a wolf, the irony hurts.”

“Stiles, I’m the Alpha so I’m gonna do what I want. Besides,” Laura moved to stand in front of the boys. Luca instantly looked down in fear while Liam stared at her, his eyes hard and unafraid. Kid’s got balls. “I think they’ll make good wolves. And they’re so cute!”

Stiles rolled his eyes and prayed for strength. “Fine! Do what you want, oh powerful Alpha. But let the record show that your emissary thought this was a shit idea!”

“Oh, hush.” She moved back in front of the boys, her stance tall and her eyes serious. Turning to look at the boys, she flashed her eyes. They both jumped, Liam less so than Luca, but they jumped nonetheless. Luca looked as if he was seconds away from running away, the only reason he hadn’t being Liam who still stood tall and fearless.

“You two do know what you’re asking for, don’t you? You know that this isn’t the ultimate problem solver. This is serious and if you don’t think you can handle it, you better leave now.” When neither boy moved away from her, Laura nodded and moved to stand at Luca’s left side. She gripped his elbow and wrist tightly, forcing his arm out straight and positioned herself in the middle of his forearm. “Just so you know, this is going to hurt but try not to move.” With that, she bit down into his skin, blood pooling around the edges of her lips as she held on, made sure the bite took. Luca was screaming, the pain of her fangs burning his blood. Stiles has seen this too many times to count, between Laura biting Scott and Boyd and Jackson and about five other people in the pack. They all reacted the same, with bellowing screams and thrashing limbs, trying to get away from the one thing most of them wanted.

Once she finished with Luca, she moved towards Liam while Stiles went to patch up the wound from the other boys bleeding arm. He heard Liam shout slightly before going quiet, letting Laura do what she had to do without a word. Stiles had to admit, the kid was tough. Maybe he would make a good wolf. He hoped.

Repeating his ministrations on Liam, he went to stand by Laura again as she wrapped up her little Alpha speech she gave after every turning session.

“Now, being a wolf isn’t easy for anyone, born or turned, so I want you guys to be at the house every day this week to practice your control and your shift. Don’t even think about trying to go to school, you aren’t ready for that. Fake sick, I don’t care, just be here, every day, by 8 a.m. Or else.”

The two boys nodded before walking away. They were talking to each other in hushed tones too low for Stiles to hear but from Laura’s smirk, it must’ve been something good.

~

Monday happened bright and early with Stiles, once again, at Laura’s side, Liam and Luca sat in front of them on the living room sofa. It’s been two days since the bite and the both already looked different. Larger. Alpha males. It was a good look on them, especially Luca who was so quiet and soft spoken previously, Stiles was worried this was something he didn’t want for himself but only because Liam wanted it and he didn’t want to be left out. A feeling Stiles was quite close with when he was younger.

“Today, we’re going to focus on what can force you shift and over the next few days work on eliminating them or making it so they don’t trigger you. That way, you two can go back to school and not accidentally kill someone. Which is, ultimately, the goal.”

She did this one on one, taking each of the boys aside and pushing them to their breaking point, a place that was way closer to the surface for Liam than Luca, as Stiles intended it to be. Liam broke and shifted the at the first name Laura called him, claws swiping through the air the moment she said he was weak and unwanted. She eventually got him calmed down but he was quick to flip all over again when Laura started getting physical with him. He was unpredictable and explosive, so much so that Laura had to put him through a round of meditation with Scott in an attempt to calm him down enough to try again.

Luca on the other hand, he was the epitome of calm. Nothing Laura could say or do to him seemed to phase him enough to cause him to shift past a quick flash of his beta gold eyes. It was truly impressive, to both Stiles and Laura who had never seen a freshly turned wolf adapt so well to everything and not be overwhelmed or out of control.

“You’re handling this extremely well, Luca. I’m impressed.” Stiles had slid up to stand beside the younger boy, not even surprised that he had zero reaction to his sudden appearance. “You’re gonna make a damn good wolf.”

“Thanks, Stiles.”

Laura had finished doing whatever she was doing with Liam—probably more wolf-related anger management moves because Jesus was the kid mad. It was mind-boggling how much anger could fit inside such a tiny person—and called it quits for the day.

“We’re doing this again tomorrow. Same time. Be here.” As the kids walked away, Laura walked over to Stiles and leaned her weight against him with a sigh.

“I so have my work cut out for me, dear Lord. He’s just so _angry_ , Stiles. How?”

Stiles laughed and pushed her off of him. “Hey, you turned him, he’s your responsibility.”  Stiles walked away and laughed at Laura sputtering behind him.

 

**Weds. July 27, 2016**

It’s been a week since Stiles got turned into a deer and he’s still having trouble controlling his shift, something he finds extremely hilarious since he helped train all the wolves in the pack and helped them master their control. The fact that he can’t practice what he preached is a special kind of torture.

Right now, he was a deer. Or, well, a fawn, technically. He’s at the Hale house with Laura, going through the basics she goes with all the new betas to break them down and build them up again. They had just been play fighting, his heart rate growing higher and higher with each swipe from Laura he dodge when he realised he was about five feet shorter and surrounded by grass. He turns his head up to stare at Laura who’s staring at him wide-eyed and shocked, a small smile on her face. This is the first real time she has seen him in his deer form, the other being when he was first bitten and still healing from Kali’s toss.

“Oh, Stiles,” She squats down so she can look at him in eye. He stumbles back himself and blows hot air in her face, causing her to squeak and sit back a tad. “You’re so cute.”

Stiles resents that. The only reason he’s cute is because he’s about the size of a one year old and walks about as good as one, too. His legs are too long for his body, causing him to stumble and buckle with every step he takes (which makes Derek huff in annoyance and pick him up so they can get anywhere when he’s like this), he doesn’t have antlers, doesn’t even know if he’ll grow any or stay a fawn his whole life, something he so is not looking forward to.

“Do you think you can shift back?” Laura asks softly, her hand drifting towards him as if she wants to pet him. He stumbles out of her reach again and snorts, his ears twitching and laying flat to his head. No, he can’t shift back, wouldn’t even know where to start. His heart rate isn’t as high as it was when he first shifted so he can’t use that to his advantage. He knows he wants to be human again, but even willpower is no use to get him back to his original form.

Laura sighs and stands. “Okay. I’m going to get Derek, just chill out, okay?” With that, she leaves him in the grass and runs back into the house, shouting Derek’s name as she does. Time passes slowly when he’s a deer so it feels as if he’s been waiting for hours when he finally sees Derek sit down beside him, his arms stretched out behind him to hold him up as he looks to the sky.

“So, Laura tells me you’re stuck.” Derek glances at him quickly before looking back up to the sky. Stiles bobs his head in agreement and stands on wobbly legs, slowly but surely making his way to where Derek is laid out to lay next to him. He lays his unstable head on Derek’s thigh and sighs through his nose. Dereks heavy hand lands on the bottom half of his body, not petting but comforting, and he wiggles around to burrow deeper into the warmth.

He hears Derek chuckle and a quick glance at the other man’s face shows him a smile so large he has crinkles around his eyes. He makes another noise of contentment and closes his eyes, relaxes into the feeling of Derek’s body directly next to his and the sound of his voice as he begins to talk nonsense above him.

“You’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure of it. You’re so smart, there’s no way you won’t be an amazing were. You were always an amazing emissary, and before you start to freak out, yes you’re still the pack’s emissary. Knox is nowhere near ready for the responsibility and this doesn’t change the fact that you’re the only one who knows as much about anything and knows how to use it in your favor. You’re our kick ass emissary deer. Yeah, that works, I like the way that sounds.”

Derek’s words sound far away and ethereal, as if he’s talking to Stiles through the film of another world, the words he’s saying making zero sense to his brain but are comforting nonetheless.

“We’ll make this work, I promise you. And I also promise that you’ll end up the size of an adult deer, maybe even bigger. I was talking to Deaton about it and he can’t understand really why your shift is a fawn but he’s almost 100% certain you’ll reach the size you should be, probably before the end of the year, beginning of next year. And then you won’t feel so...I guess useless. Because I know that’s how you feel. Surrounded by people, some of whom are younger than you, who can shift into full wolves and you’re stuck as a fawn who can fit into their hands, I bet that’s how you feel. But soon you’ll be about as tall as you are now in deer form and you’ll have antlers so, I think you’ll be pretty kick ass. More so than you already are.”

His heart is beating slowly and his breathing has slowed down a well, he’s almost on the verge of sleep he’s pretty sure. Even though he really wants to be human again, he doesn’t mind staying this way if it means Derek keeps talking to him, his voice lulling him into a blissful sleep.

Derek’s hand shifts, his palm hot against his skin. Since when does he have skin, he was shifted. Opening his eyes slowly, he’s shocked to see that he is not, in fact, a deer anymore, but human. Human and naked and halfway in Derek’s lap. He quickly shuffles away from Derek, his knees in his chest to try and give him a modicum of decency.

“Uhm, hi?” He squeaks out. He’s so embarrassed, can feel the red of his blush burn over his chest and cheeks, making him blush even more.

“Hi,” Derek is laughing, the asshole. Just because he isn’t the one laying in the grass naked doesn’t mean he can make fun. “How about we find you some clothes and get you home? You can train tomorrow.”

He nods quickly and snatches his clothes from where Derek when he picks them up from the ground.

 

**Tues. Feb 14, 2012 (11 p.m)**

“No, Derek, I don’t think you do understand.” Stiles slammed down the bag he was holding, an apology gift from Derek because he forgot fucking _Valentine’s Day_. “I know you think it’s some dumb holiday for couples to be annoying and shit, I get it I do. You should show your significant other love every day you’re together, not just the one day. I have heard it from you for the past five months and from everyone else every other day of the goddamn year. But today was important to me. I had things planned and the fact that you forgot, that you’re just brushing it off as if it’s nothing,” He looked down at his feet, his eyes watering thanks to the tears he is trying his hardest to not let fall. “It hurts, Derek. It’s like you don’t care about me or what I want.”

“I know, baby, and I’m sorry.” Derek moved closer to Stiles until he was able to touch him. Stiles tried to evade his touch, tried to be strong and not cave but he was just so hurt he couldn’t fight it. He fell into Derek’s chest as the older man wrapped his arms around him, his hand skimming up and down his back in comforting motions. “The moment I realised what day it was, I rushed over here. I knew how important today was for you and I wanted to give it to you. I’ve just rejected this holiday for so long it didn’t register to me it was Valentine’s Day until Laura walked in the door and asked what we did today. And that’s no excuse, I’m not asking for you to forgive me for fucking up our first Valentine’s Day together but,” Derek pulled Stiles away from him so he could stare him in the eye. “I was hoping you’d allow me to make it up to you? Please.” Derek looked so hopeful that Stiles couldn’t help but say yes. He pulled away, wiping the few tears that had managed to fall from his eyes before nodding his head slowly.

Derek smiled, his eyes crinkling around the edges in the way that made Stiles’ heart skip a beat every time he saw it. The man was so beautiful it was unfair and the fact that Stiles was able to say he was his was...ridiculous.

Derek began to push Stiles into the living room and towards the sofa. “Okay, you stay here and watch tv, I have things to do.” He searched around for the remote before finding it and basically throwing it at Stiles. “Don’t come into the kitchen! You’ll ruin the surprise.”

“...Okay.” Stiles rolled his eyes at his boyfriend before turning on the television, flipping through channels until he landed on the NHL Network. Might as well watch 24 hour hockey since nothing else was on. All the while, he heard Derek puttering around in the kitchen, opening and closing various cabinets, slamming the fridge a tad too hard, cursing when he messes up.

It was three minutes into the third quarter of a game he’s not paying much attention to when he started getting antsy.

“Derek, are you almost done? I’m bored.”

“Almost, babe. Give me like five more minutes.”

Stiles groaned. That was five minutes too long. “Ugh, fine. Hurry up.”

Just as he anticipated, the five minutes felt like twenty and by the time Derek came in to tell him he was ready, Stiles was already off the couch, bouncing up and down to try and contain himself and his excitement. Derek laughed at his impatiences and walked behind him to cover his eyes as they walked into the dining room. When Derek removed his hands, Stiles was shocked at what he saw in front of him. Derek hadn’t just cooked like Stiles knew he was going to, he prepared a full three course meal for the two of them to enjoy together. There was a tablecloth on the table, two gold plated candelabras placed in the middle of it. There was a bouquet of flowers in his mom’s old crystal vase; lilies and lavender, his favorites. He was speechless.

“Do you like it?” Stiles turned and stared at Derek. He was standing behind him, his hands clasped tightly in front of him and he looked as if he were bracing himself for Stiles’ response, as if he believed Stiles could, in any way, hate what he had done.

Surging forward, Stiles grabbed Derek’s hips and pulled him forward so he could kiss him. He pressed their lips together firmly, his upper lip getting caught on Derek’s when he gasped at the sudden contact. Tilting his head, he fit their lips together better and sighed into the slick feel of Derek’s tongue ghosting over his bottom lip. He pulled back before the kiss could get hotter, his cheeks flushed and lips red from those few seconds alone. Derek looked worse than he felt, his eyes half lidded and his face completely flushed.

“I love it.” Stiles answered, moving forward for another quick peck before turning to look at the table. “Let’s eat.” He pulled Derek to his spot next to Stiles at the table and began to eat.

They talked more that night than they have any other night they had together, everything from the how Scott is adjusting to being a wolf and how Laura is an amazing Alpha, no matter how often she beats herself up about it, to the stupid things they used to do when they were kids, Stiles beating Derek in the most outrageous kid stories category by miles.

“No, okay, listen,” Stiles put his fork down to allow himself the full use of his hands for the necessary gesticulation that was going to happen during this story, something that made Derek laugh so hard he snorted. It was cute. “So we were maybe about, what, six? Seven? I don’t know, we were young. Anyway, I decided, since I was both older and wiser than Scott, that the only way to learn how to fly like the birds was to live like the birds. Brilliant, right? I know. So here I am, six years old, convincing Scott that we needed to climb the tallest tree we could find and make that our new home. And he agrees! So, we’re walking around the park, looking at all the trees, none of them tall enough until we find it. The one. We’re technically not even in the park at this point, that’s how far we walked when we saw this tree. But we found it. And I was like, “Scott, we gotta climb up it, all the way to the top.” And he’s all nodding his head so he goes for it, starts climbing this tall ass tree and to this day I am grateful he went first because I might not have known it back then but I am terrified of heights and this story would’ve ended completely different if I climbed up first. Anyway. He’s climbing this tree and he’s going and he’s maybe about 20 feet off the ground when he just like, stops. And I’m like, yo what’s going on why’d you stop? Turns out, there was a snake in the tree just staring at him from the branch. He froze, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to climb up there so I ran back home and got my dad. I don’t think my dad has ever yelled at me as bad as he did that day.” Stiles chuckled at the memory, one of his favorites from his childhood and turned to look at Derek who was wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so hard.

Once he calmed down, Stiles reached over to hold his hand, his thumb rubbing over his knuckles. That caused Derek to calm down completely and look at Stiles, an eyebrow quirked in question.

“Thank you for tonight. It was amazing. Better than anything I had planned.”

Derek blushed, his cheeks pinkening so beautifully it made Stiles heart beat faster. “It was nothing. I wanted to do it for you. And I’m still sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Stiles stood up suddenly and sat in Derek’s lap, his legs on either side of his hips as he took his face in his hand and looked at him, truly looked. His eyes were still the beautifully ridiculous undeterminable colour he had fallen for all those months ago, bright and sparkling with happiness and what might be fondness if Stiles wanted to label it. His beard was fuller than he normally kept it but Stiles found that he didn’t hate it, he actually liked it a bit more than the artfully crafted stubble he tended to stick to. His hair was flawless and begging for Stiles to run his fingers through (which he did) and he had the most adorable bunny teeth know to man. Stiles loved him so much.

“I love you. And thank you, for this. For making it up to me. For being so important to me. I love you.”

Derek looked surprised at the sudden confession before he took Stiles’ face in his hands and kissed him deeply, leaving him breathless and yearning for more when he was finished.

“I love you too, Stiles. And I’d do anything for you”

 

**Weds. July 27, 2016**

“How’d you do it?” Stiles is laying on the bed when he asks the question. Derek just got out the shower, towel still slung low on his hips, water dripping down his stupidly attractive abs, and Stiles has been thinking about what he could do to just...be better. Control his shift better. Do anything, better.

“How’d I do what?” Derek’s voice echos from deep inside the closet. He walks out a few seconds later, an old pair of sweatpants replacing the towel and in the process of pulling on a shirt. Stiles opens his arms and Derek moves to lay on top of him, his chin propped up in his hands as he stares at Stiles.

“How’d you manage to gain control? I mean, I know you were born the way you are so most of it is probably instinct but still, what helped you in the end?”

“Surprisingly enough, being a wolf didn’t come easy for me despite the fact that it was in my blood and I was born into it. I actually had the hardest time controlling my shift compared to all the other kids. Didn’t start going to school until I was about nine because that was when I finally figured out how to not shift at the slightest annoyance.” He snorts, a far away and sad look on his face as if he was remembering his life before his family died, a simpler time when his mom had all the answers and he never really had to worry.

“My mom used to preach about the idea of an anchor, something that your humanity can latch onto and stay grounded with, as a way to help control the shift. For the longest time, I could never understand what she meant. I was never able to visualise my humanity as this separate concept from the instincts of my wolf. Until, one day, it just clicked. And it’s still something I can’t explain. It’s a feeling that you have for yourself, an idea or a person or a feeling that always brings you back down, that makes you feel your calmest and your most feral at the same time.”

“What’s your anchor?” Stiles asks.

“Before everything, it was my family. I was young and it was simple but it always gave me this sense of family and happiness whenever I felt like I would get out of control.” Derek shifts, his head now laying completely on Stiles’ chest, his ear directly over his heart. Stiles begins to run his fingers through the black hair tickling his chin as he starts to talk again. “After the fire, it was anger. I was angry that they died, angry that someone though my family decided to die solely because of who we were or who our parents were. Angry that there were humans and babies in that fire and that the person who set it didn’t care. But now, now it’s you.”

Stiles stops his hand, his eyes opened wide in shock at the confession. “It’s me? Why me?”

“Of course it’s you, who else would it be?” Derek pushes himself up so he’s straddling Stiles. “Stiles, I have never felt more alive than when I am with you. When I’m with you, the world make sense in a way it never did before. You’re the reason I live and breathe, Stiles. You’re my humanity and I love you.”

Stiles surges up and kisses him. He is so in love with this man it is ridiculous. And he understands what he means, him being his reason for living because that’s how Stiles feels about Derek. Everything was out of focus before they met, everything he did and went through insignificant and blurry but the moment Derek stepped into his life, everything was crystal clear. Just the thought of not having Derek in his life leaves him breathless and his chest aching. He needs this man more than he needs oxygen and he isn’t afraid to admit it.

“I am so in love with you I don’t know what to do sometimes and I am going to marry the hell out of you one day.”

Derek laughs as he kisses Stiles again softly. “I love you too, baby. And I know you will.”

 

**Thurs, July 28, 2016**

Stiles walks into the Hale house with his head held high, determined to get this shit under control. Derek is hot on his heels, spurred into action by his boyfriend’s determined nature. He follows Stiles into the office where he knew Laura was holed up as she always is.

She looks up at Stiles’ sudden entrance, a confused look on her face as she sees him and the serious look he has on his face.

“Uh, hi,” She closes the book she was reading, crosses her arms around her chest and looks. “How can I help you?”

“I want to train again. Let’s go.” Stiles turns and walks out the door, heading towards the backyard where they practice with the rest of the pack.

Laura, still in shock from Stiles’ bluntness, looks at Derek hoping to get a better understanding of what the hell is going on, but all he does is shrug and follow Stiles out, leaving Laura by herself. She eventually makes her way outside to see Stiles going through the first few control exercises with Derek, his performance already better than what it was the day before.

“Good,” Derek says, his arms crossed over his chest as he takes Stiles in and tries to determine what his next move should be. “You’re getting better at this but we’re going to crank it up a notch.” Moving to stand directly in front of Stiles, Derek places his hands on the other boys shoulders and stays there.

“Close your eyes. Imagine the worst moment in your life, the one thing that has happened to you that tore you apart and you never truly put yourself back together from. A moment where you felt your weakest, your lowest point. Now, hold on to that memory, don’t let it go.” Derek slowly removes his hands from Stiles’ shoulders and steps away from him slowly, one step at a time. “Play that moment over and over. And when you feel like you’re about to break, hold on a force yourself to be strong. Try and stay away from the feeling of weakness. Find your rock and hold on.”

Derek ends up beside Laura on the back porch, the both of them watching as Stiles falls apart at the seams, the tears falling down his cheeks visible even from where they’re standing. Laura can tell he’s trying to not break down but it’s a losing battle, she already knows. That’s why she never does this with the newly turned, knows they’re control is too weak for them to actually fight. Shit, even the most in control wolf can’t fight against the feelings of their worst moment sometimes.

“Why’re you doing this to him, Derek?” Laura whispers, her eyes never leaving Stiles.

“Because he’s strong. The sooner he gets this, everything else will be a breeze.” She stares at him as he says this, her mouth gaped open slightly at his reasoning. “Trust me.”

Nodding, she turns back to Stiles just in time to see him sob and collapse into his shift. He’s grown since yesterday, no longer the fawn they had all grown to love. His fur was still the same beautiful tawny color, his white spots still gracing his back. But he had grown into his legs, the legs he was able to stand on without once staggering. She could even see nubs on the top of his head, the beginning of the antlers he would have when he was fully grown. But that wasn’t the part that broke Laura’s heart.

He was crying, tears falling from his large amber eyes, eyes she could barely see with how low he had his head. His ears are flat to his head and the whole scene was just breaking Laura’s heart.

Derek took in the scene before them quicker than she did and is at Stiles’ side before she can even uncross her arms. She decides not to go to Stiles’ aid and instead listens to the words of comfort Derek is murmuring into his ear.

“Stiles, baby, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you like this. I’m just trying to help. I know, it was a fucked up thing to do, I’m sorry. We won’t have to do it again, I promise. We’ll go about this how we normally do, the same way we did it with Scott and Luca and Isaac and Erica and Liam and everyone else. I promise.”

When she’s heard enough, she quietly slips back into the house, closing the back door as silently as possible, but not before seeing Stiles shift back and hug Derek tight enough to hurt even her.

 

**Sat. June 13, 2015**

“Okay cubbies, it’s time for a game of hide and tag!” Laura had the whole pack gathered in the backyard. Her excitement was palpable and had all the betas tittering in excitement at what their Alpha had planned for them.

“So, rules,” Laura stood in the middle of the circle they had formed while waiting and stared at them all, staring harder at a select few before continuing. “This is my way of testing your three most important senses; smell, sight, hearing. In simple terms, the wolves, hunt the humans. Knox, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia are going to go into the woods and hide and it is your job to find them. Any questions so far?”

Isaac raised his hand instantly. “This doesn’t sound like tag… it sounds more like hide and seek.”

“The name is hide and tag, Isaac. Let me finish explaining before you ask dumb questions. Anyway, while you guys are searching for our sweet little humans, Derek, Cora and I will also be tracking you. If we find one of you and manage to get a drop on you, you’re out. The object of the game is to sharpen your senses and put you on the offensive and defensive simultaneously. Understand?” When everyone nodded, Laura moved from the center of the circle to begin to put the game in motion. “Okay, good. Betas, I want you all inside while our humans get ready for a lil’ trek through the woods. Don’t forget, cover your scent and your tracks as well as you can so they can’t find you as easily. I’ll call you back inside when we’re ready for you.”

Stiles watched as the wolves stomped back inside and then walked over to Derek. “Give me your shirt?”

“Why?”

“I have to hide my scent, what better way to do that than by wearing your shirt out there?”

Derek rolled his eyes at Stiles’ logic but began to take his shirt off nonetheless, Stiles following suit.

“Stiles, you already smell like me, I doubt this will make a difference.”

Stiles ignored him and instead pulled the shirt on. It was soft against his skin, he loved it.

“Whatever. I have to go and glomp around in the woods for who knows how long. Catch these assholes fast, please?”

All Stiles heard as he began to make his way through the trees was Derek’s laugh and Laura calling back to the house, “Get ready guys! In 3, 2, 1, GO!”

 

**Sun. Aug. 7, 2016**

“Okay cubbies, it’s time for a game of hide and tag!” There’s a resounding “no” from everyone in the living room, the objection to playing that stupid game clear as day.

“No! Don’t no me! We’re playing.” Laura snatches the remote from Jackson’s hand and turns off the tv. She turns around to glare at all of them, arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. “It isn’t every day we get a baby shifter in the pack and we have to teach him! So, everyone, get your asses off of this couch and get outside. NOW!” The last part is said as an Alpha command, her eyes flashing red in the process and before she can even shift her eyes back, everyone is pushing to make their way to the backyard, terrified of what’s going to happen if they defy their Alpha.

Once Laura joins them outside, she makes everyone stand directly in front of her, not in the circle they usually congregate into whenever it’s game time.

“So, today’s game is going to be a bit different than normal. As you all know, Stiles,” She even goes and points to him as if they don’t know who he is and it’s the first day of school. “Isn’t like the rest of us. He doesn’t shift into a wolf, so his needs when it comes to training are a little different than what the rest of you guys. And right now, we need to work on his control. So this is how today is going to go.

“Instead of  it being four against eleven, it’s going to be one against thirteen, fourteen if Lydia wants to play. As usual, everyone is going to go after the person in the woods. And that person is Stiles. Stiles, your goal is to stay calm enough in this situation to not shift out of panic. As always, Derek, Cora, and I will be hunting the hunters. If we touch you you’re out. Ready, set, STILES RUN IN THE WOODS.”

The moment the words leave Laura’s mouth, Stiles is off, his mind coming up with paths and hidden ways for him to go to try and evade the wolves (and humans) coming after him. He crosses over his previous path a few times to hopefully cause some confusion for anyone following his scent.

His heart is pounding its way out of his chest and his brain is running a mile a minute, hundreds of different scenarios flickering through his mind. His reaction to different people catching him, majority of them ending with him shift in surprise and/or fright. Dammit, that isn’t what he wants.

After running for about ten minutes, Stiles finds a nice hidey hole to stay squared away in, hopefully far enough away from where anyone would possibly walk and they not see him.

For as much shit as he gives her, Laura has amazing training activities because Stiles just wants to shift from the excess adrenaline coursing through his veins but manages—barely—to keep it contained.

After a while he starts to get bored. No one has found him yet and he knows that that is the object of the game but he can only sit still for so long without being bored and that time has come and gone. He wiggles his way out of his hole, his hips and thighs protesting and groaning thanks to him subjecting them to stay in the same position for such a long period of time. Finally at his full height, he stretches, joints popping and groaning as he moves his body around. From the corner of his eye, he sees movement but brushes it off as the wildlife that lives in the woods moving about.

He begins to turn around and walk back to the tree, his intent to sit with his back against it until someone came, when he came face to face with a smirking Amber, her bright red curls a shock to his senses.

He jumps back, not ready for her to be so close and so bright and in the next moment he’s on all fours. He had grown bigger than before, his antlers almost full grown and almost as tall as Amber, who is currently staring at Stiles in shock, her hand hovering in the air from where she was most likely going to poke him or wave hi.

“Oh, Stiles,” Her voice is light with awe. This is the first time she’s seeing him shift, the first time anyone besides Laura and Derek has seen him shift, and she’s mesmerised. “Stiles, you’ve _gorgeous_.”

He huffs because that is so not what he wants to hear no matter if it’s true or not. Walking closer to Amber, he butts his head against her chest in an attempt to get her to move and go back to the house with him. The game is over anyway, she caught him and he ended up shifting so there’s no point in sitting in the woods any longer than he needs to.

Hitting her once more, Stiles thinks she finally gets the message because she begins to walk with him on his left side. Stiles snorts and jumps away when he feels a hand touching the antlers at the top of his head. They’re covered in velvet as they’re growing out and Stiles is pretty sure it feels nice, doesn’t mean he wants people touching them.

“Sorry, sorry, shouldn’t have done that. You’re just really beautiful dude. Like, ridiculously so.” Stiles snorts again but knocks his head against her arm in thanks anyway, hoping she understands him.

The rest of the walk is in silence, Amber picking her way through the low-hanging branches and stray rocks while Stiles just rams his way through everything. They finally make it back to the house, everyone else sitting around and waiting for them to show up.

“About time, Stilinski,” Jackson says from his spot laid out on the back porch. “We got tired of waiting.” Stiles ignores him and scans the field for Derek, twittering excitedly when he sees him. Derek happily accepts the headbutt Stiles gives him when he’s in reach and motions for Laura to send everyone back inside so they can be alone.

“Come on, let’s get you shifted back.” Derek sits on the ground with his legs crossed, Stiles’ head cushioned on his thighs. He begins to talk and talk, his voice lulling Stiles into a calmness and allowing him to shift back

 

**Sat. Dec. 24, 2011**

When Stiles walked into the Hale house, he found Derek and Laura sitting in the living room huddled around their sister, Cora, who had randomly appeared at the house yesterday. On Derek’s birthday. He had left the moment they all started crying, talking about how they thought they lost her and the only reason he was back today was because he forgotten his bag in his rush to escape the familial moment that wasn’t his.

Derek was the first to look at him as he tried to make his way through the house as quietly as possible. Soon after, Laura and Cora turned to look at him and he felt like he was being put on the spot and he hated it.

“Uh, hey. I was just coming to get my bag I left yesterday. Ignore me, I’ll be out of your hair in a second.”

“Stiles,” Laura called his name and he stopped looking for his bag to look at her. “You’re bag is in the front hall closet. I put it there yesterday.”

“Oh, okay thanks. I’ll just go...get it.” He turned to walk back towards the front door when Derek’s voice stops him.

“Stiles, you don’t have to leave. Stay. Meet Cora.”

“I don’t want to be a bother…”

“Stiles, shut up and sit down next to my brother.” That was Cora. She sounded exactly like Laura, demanding and bossy. It must be a Hale trait.

He moved and sat down next to Derek, unsure how close he was allowed to sit next to the guy that was basically his boyfriend. Looking around, he saw that no one was looking at him and tried his hardest to relax his body into the sofa and into Derek’s side.

It should have been weird, he thought it was going to be weird, but sitting with the Hale siblings watching Christmas movies was a pastime he didn’t know he needed or wanted in his life. As time passed, his body relaxed more and more until he was completely leaned into Derek’s side, the man’s arm slung around his shoulders. It had been silent between them for a while, the four of them enjoying each other’s company for now, when Cora finally spoke, the first words she'd said since she told Stiles to shut up and sit down.

“I miss mom.” There was so much emotion in those three words, Stiles felt his heart break for her, for them all. He knew what it was like to lose a parent, it felt as if you lost a piece of yourself. To not only lose a parent, but your whole family, they must all be empty inside, Stiles knew he would.

“I miss mom so much.” Her voice cracked and she sounded about thirty seconds away from bawling. Laura shifted on the couch so she could put her arms around her younger sister and hold her close to her, whispered words of understanding and reassurance passing over her ears as she tried to control her tears.

“Christmas was our mom’s favorite season,” Stiles shifted so he could stare at Derek while he talked. “None of us really got as into the season as she did, especially me considering how close my birthday is to it. But she loved it. Every year she made us take these horrendous family portraits for the Christmas cards, ugly sweaters and everything. We always complained, what else are teenagers going to do, but we always did it. For her. We’d do anything for her.” His voice faded out and he got a faraway look on his face, old memories he hadn’t given himself the opportunity to think about before now. Stiles shifted and placed his hand on Derek’s forearm and squeezed. Let him know he was there and he understood.

“Our mom was our Alpha and she was a pretty good one. She wasn’t the best but I’ve learned that no one can be perfect, even if you think they are. She had her flaws, we all do, but she worked her ass of to make herself be the best person she could.” Laura was sitting with her back against the arm of the couch, Cora curled into her side, the same look on her face that Derek had on his. “She also had the worst control ever which I found funny considering she was the Alpha to a pack of over forty people and mom to five of the most annoying kids to grace the earth. She shifted every time her emotions got the best of her. When she was sad or mad or pissed off, usually at us. And as a wolf, not having control over your shift is seen as a weakness. She could have lost her position as Alpha if someone truly tried to challenge her for it. But no matter how many times she shifted when she was yelling at someone or when she was worried sick, she was the best Alpha. And I only hope I can be half as good as her.”

Silence lapsed, Laura’s words weighing heavy on all of them.

“You’re gonna make her proud, Laura,” Stiles hoped he was stepping on any toes, but this was something he was sure about. Talia Hale was smiling down at her children and the adults they’ve become. “I’m pretty sure you already are.”

 

**Tues. Aug. 9, 2016**

Stiles is angry and sore and he’s never going to get the hang of this control bullshit.

“I can’t do it, Derek. It is literally impossible.” Stiles is laid across their bed, his arms thrown over his eyes and his t-shirt rucked up under his armpits in a pathetic attempt to cool himself down. “Control is something that I, Stiles Stilinski, will never manage. Which is ironic as fuck considering I taught half of those smug ass wolves how to now wolf out and kill someone during midterm season. The ungrateful bastards.”

He hears Derek chuckle from his above him. Removing his arms from his eyes, he comes face to face with his boyfriend who’s smirking at him as if he’s the funniest thing ever.

“What’s so funny?” Stiles glares at him. He doesn’t appreciate being laughed at thank you very much.

“I just find it funny how serious you’re taking this whole thing. Like, okay, yeah you can’t control your shift. What’s the big deal. It’s not like you could kill someone. Unless you plan on running across the road shifted when a car is coming which, in that case, we need to have a talk.

“Stiles, you aren’t a danger to anyone when you’re shifted, truthfully. So who gives a shit if you shift every time you sneeze or someone spooks you. You’re pretty good at shifting back to human now so it’s no big deal really. Maybe one day you’ll master control, maybe you won’t. But you have got to stop letting it control your life, baby. It’s not healthy.”

Stiles groans because he knows Derek is right but there’s a voice in his head telling him that he’s a failure solely because he can’t master something he’s teached numerous times before. It was ridiculous.

“You’re right, I know you’re right but. Try and tell my brain that.”

Derek hums as he climbs onto the bed, positioning himself directly on Stiles’ hips, his hands pressed onto the too warm skin of his belly. “Well, hey, not everyone has to master control to be great. Take my mom for example. Her shift was just as sporadic as yours and she was still a kickass Alpha. I think you’ll be alright.”

Derek pecks Stiles on the lips quickly before he lifts off of his body and makes his way into the bathroom. “And hey, you’d still be plenty helpful in a fight. Who’s gonna expect us to bring a _deer_ to a wolf fight? Element of surprise is in the bag.”

Sometimes Stiles regrets loving this man.

**Author's Note:**

> will my obsession with flashback scenes, commas, italics, and m-dashes ever die? probs not. 
> 
> so when i was planning this out, trying to figure out what weird ass animal stiles should shift into, the only thing that made sense to me was a deer. and now, i know it's not as weird as it could be and i know there are other deer!stiles fics out there but the image of a 19 year old shifting into a baby deer, all loose limbs and wide eyes, like i couldn't shake it. and i tried. so here is a picture of [fawn stiles](http://www.lazarart.com/gallery/wl-fawn.shtml) and here is a picture of [adult stiles](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/1875954123_2bef94f412.jpg) (or google white tailed deer if you want more)
> 
> it would mean a lot to me if you left comments, kudos, or bookmarked this. ily all xx


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